Scorpius Port

Wyvern’s Crest

Wyvern’s Crest is a coastal sea port city that was built up from a small fishing village that settled here many years before. I want the city to have a layered city-upon-city feel to it, so I am thinking that it was built and rebuilt a few times. Maybe it served for a while as the base for a pirate holdout and was seized by the king’s men to be rebuilt as a sea port. I can see where that would lead to back and forth battles as the pirates tried to retake the city a few times.

I also want the city to have a layered effect, with the lowest level being a dock area and beaches at sea level, then a cliff with the main city on the top of it, followed by a second cliff with the outer city and the defense walls atop that one, and finally farmlands beyond that.

In my mind the lowest part of the city, on the inland side where the river is sheltered by the spur of the cliff face, should have a sort of Venice feel to it with the city built along the narrow ribbons of beach and gravel along the edge of the cliff, connected by elevated walkways between the canyon walls. This would be the area where the lower class and fishermen live, and the first to be damaged by seasonal storms. It was likely the part built originally by smugglers, pirates and slavers, so would likely have lots of back alley ways, back passages and hidden areas built into it.

Higher up, out of the danger of high waves during storm season, would be the middle tier of the city where the merchants and middle classed citizens live. Here would be the everyman part of the city where the player characters would most likely start the game.

Above everything, in the highest levels of the city, would be the lower nobility and the wealthy merchants. These upper class would have views of the sea or of the rolling farmlands beyond the defensive walls. This would be the only part of the city that would actually have more of a view than just of the city itself and so would be pricy realestate, so would be higher classed residents. The upper city would be towered over by the granite tower of rock atop of which sits the palace where the nobility of the area resides.

With this layout in mind, it is time to come up with some kind of basic map system for the city on which to build the base shape of the city and the city streets.